Decisions by health care authorities are impeding patients’ access to new medicines. That is a headline Americans expect to read about barriers to treatments in government-run health care systems that ration access to care, often to stay within their global spending budgets. But a study presented at the recent American College of Cardiology annual...
Prescription Drugs
Far-Reaching Medicare Part B Changes Violate Separation Of Powers — And With CBO’s Blessing
Members of Congress expressed outrage at the Congressional Budget Office during a recent House hearing for assuming that sweeping, untested changes to Medicare will save $34 billion “even before you know what the project is,” Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) said. “There is no cost-benefit analysis, there is no testing done, you don’t even know...
Competition in Medicare Advantage, Part D, and “Extra Help”/ Working together for seniors and taxpayers
Seniors are beginning to get fliers in the mail alerting them to the upcoming open season for enrollment in Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. Both programs rely on competition and consumer choice to increase options and hold down costs for seniors. Open season begins October 15 for those planning to...
More Competition is the Best Cure
The most interesting thing about the PR disaster involving Mylan’s life-saving EpiPen is probably the least discussed—namely that drugs don’t cost what people think they do. Faced with a barrage of criticism for EpiPen price hikes, from about $100 in 2009 to more than $600 today, Mylan’s CEO Heather Bresch explains that her company gets less...
In A Politically Polarized Year, Poll Finds Wide Agreement Among Voters On A Key Health Care Agenda
A new poll of voters in battleground states finds a rare opportunity for bipartisan agreement on health care, with Americans strongly favoring action on public policies that support medical discovery into new treatments and cures. The poll was jointly commissioned by the Galen Institute and Center Forward, center-right and center-left think tanks. Purple Insights interviewed 800...
New FDA Guidance Would Deny Doctors Information They Need In Prescribing Biosimilar Medicines
The Food and Drug Administration appears to believe it knows better than physicians do what information they need to best treat their patients. That is the logical conclusion drawn from draft guidance the agency recently released on what should and should not be included on the labels of the latest generation of pharmaceuticals—a new...